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Breakthrough

Breakthrough

Next Part You Can Do It!


Christine once had eight demons. A while after being delivered, one of the most highly seductive of those demons appeared to her when she was feeling very low. Rather than yielding, she was furious at him for cruelly choosing her lowest time to try to seduce her, and immediately sent that demon packing by commanding him to leave. She then contacted me, declaring that she would choose Christ no matter what torment she had to endure. I immediately knew why Christine is a winner.

Christine had the attitude of Job: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” (Job 13:15, KJV) and of the three Hebrews about to be thrown into the furnace, who declared, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it . . . But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods . . .” (Daniel 3:17-18 – emphasis mine). It is this attitude – being willing to endure anything for Christ – and only this attitude, that makes a Christian invincible.

Let me remind you of this:

Matthew 5:29-30 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Of course Jesus did not mean we should injure our bodies. He was describing what it takes for a Christian not to be dominated by evil – a ruthless resolve to spare no pain or loss.

Jesus kept saying such things as:

Luke 9:23 . . . If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

And he followed this up by sweating, as it were, drops of blood as he agonized over choosing to be tortured to death on the cross in submission to God. To be like Christ in the face of demons and temptation we must be like him in being willing to suffer “hell on earth” for heaven’s sake. When we have that determination to fight, no matter what the cost, demons sense it and flee. Ironically, that very determination to fight lessens the fight.

Let’s remind ourselves of how basic to Christianity it is to be resolved to suffer for Christ.

Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

2 Thessalonians 1:5 . . . will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. (Emphasis mine.)

The book of Revelation ends with:

Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly . . . – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

Earlier it said:

Revelation 13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.

This is not the easy road that many of us mistakenly think is the Christian’s right. This promise of persecution and even death applies to the “saints” (see also Revelation 13:7). The “saints,” says Revelation 14:12, are those who “remain faithful to Jesus” – that is, true Christians.

So the Bible does not promise an easy time for Christians. To be Christians we must be willing to endure for the One who endured everything for us. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude . . .” says 1 Peter 4:1. It then continues with a remarkable statement: “ . . . because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” It is the person who is resolved to suffer whatever it takes to be faithful to Christ, who will be victorious over sin and evil. We must not cut this verse short:

Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Emphasis mine.)

Next Part You Can Do It!